Editing London boroughs (section)

=== Name and boundary changes ===
The [[Local Government Act 1972]] provided a mechanism for the name of a London borough and its council to be changed. This was used by the London Borough of Hammersmith (changed to Hammersmith and Fulham) on 1 April 1979 and the London Borough of Barking (changed to Barking and Dagenham) on 1 January 1980. Borough names formed by combining two locality names had been discouraged when the boroughs were created.

The London boroughs were created by combining whole existing units of local government and it was realised that this might provide arbitrary boundaries in some places. The London Government Act 1963 provided a mechanism for communities on the edge of Greater London to petition for transfer from London boroughs to a neighbouring county district.<ref>London Government Act 1963 Section 6 (4)</ref> This was used in 1969 in the transfers of [[Knockholt]] in Bromley to Kent, and of [[Farleigh, Surrey|Farleigh]] and [[Hooley]] in Croydon to Surrey. The Act also provided for transfers between London boroughs and neighbouring counties where there was consensus for the change between all the relevant local authorities. This provision was used to exchange two islands on the [[River Thames]] between Richmond upon Thames and Surrey. (See [[List of Greater London boundary changes]].)

The [[Local Government Boundary Commission for England]] was established by the Local Government Act 1972 to review periodically the boundaries of Greater London and the London boroughs. The first review of boundaries commenced on 1 April 1987 and reported in 1992.<ref>{{cite web |title = The Local Government Boundary Commission for England, The Boundaries of Greater London and The London Borough, Report 627 |date = 1992 |url = https://www.lgbce.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/11419/627-the-boundaries-of-greater-london-and-the-london-boroughs.pdf |website=Lgbce.org.uk |access-date=21 December 2017 }}</ref> Following the review a series of relatively minor adjustments were made to borough boundaries, for example uniting the whole of the [[Becontree]] estate in [[London Borough of Barking and Dagenham|Barking and Dagenham]]. The commission noted that many of its recommendations were strongly opposed and were not implemented. The boundary of the City of London with adjacent boroughs was adjusted to remove some anomalies.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1993/1445/made |title = The City and London Borough Boundaries Order 1993 |website = Legislation.gov.uk |access-date = 22 December 2017 }}</ref>

The London boroughs were incorporated using the provisions of the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1882]].<ref>{{cite web |title=London Government Act 1963 (as amended) |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1963/33 |website=legislation.gov.uk |access-date=15 February 2024 |quote=The Municipal Corporations Act 1882 shall apply to every London borough}}</ref> In the London boroughs the legal entity is not the council, as elsewhere in the country, but the inhabitants incorporated as a legal entity by [[royal charter]] (a process abolished elsewhere in England and Wales under the [[Local Government Act 1972]]). Thus, a London authority's official legal title is "The Mayor and [[Burgess (title)|Burgess]]es of the London Borough of X" (or "The Lord Mayor and Citizens of the City of Westminster").<ref>{{cite web |title=Local Government Act 1933 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1933/51/pdfs/ukpga_19330051_en.pdf |website=legislation.gov.uk |access-date=15 February 2024 |quote=The municipal corporation of a borough shall [...] (a) in the case of a borough being a city, the mayor of which is entitled to bear the title of lord mayor, bear the name of the lord mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city; (b) in the case of any other borough being a city, bear the name of the mayor, aldermen and citizens of the city; and (c) in the case of any other borough, bear the name of the mayor,' aldermen and burgesses of the borough.}}</ref>